Oil pump priming issue

blownhemi said

Thanks for the tip mate, love the hex socket and wrench combo

How did you discover that you forgotten it? I found out after I fired the engine up. It had oil pressure but lower than I'd like. Bedded cam in and engine oil got warm and oil pressure suddenly dropped to nothing so I shut it down. Engine sounded fine, cam has all it's lobes, but yeah wasn't the best situation.


Edit: Job done - this was the best tip ever. Wacked some sealant on the threads, plug in place, hex socket and spanner and screwed it straight in.

Click to expand...

I had primed mine after engine was installed and without a pressure gauge. Had oil to all rockers. Slapped on valve covers and distributor, then fired it up. Mine is hydraulic roller cam and the lifters were reused from it’s previous build, so I was not too worried about break-in. Started and ran well but had lifter or rocker arm noise from left side.
After it cooled off, I checked rocker adjustment again with no problem found.

Then I pulled the distributor to run the oil pump again. This time I noticed a lot of oil splashing around inside the distributor hole, just like you saw. Checked with a mirror and that plug was missing. Later found that plug “in a safe place where I won’t forget to install it.” The arm of my engine stand was obstructing that area of the block. I was going to install that plug and the exterior plug once the engine was off the stand, but clearly I missed that while rushing it together. Completely my fault.